Can we require remote employees to have childcare?

You can, but we don’t recommend it. For one thing, it often isn’t necessary. Many employees are able to perform perfectly well while also supervising children in the home. Imposing this requirement (and a huge financial burden) won’t solve any problems, but it might encourage remote employees to start looking for a new job. Even in cases where supervising children does negatively affect job performance, mandating childcare as a solution could be seen as crossing a line into your employees’ personal lives.

This Q&A does not constitute legal advice and does not address state or local law.